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Monday, 31 October 2011

We have decided on a very contrasting style of video with a very dark style to it, bearing in mind prior Nine Inch Nails Videos such as 'We're in This Together now', which features a strongly stylised (B&W) type and use of close ups of lip syncing- then contrasted with long shots of people running

Closer (1994)

However we also bear in mind other Nine Inch Nails videos, such as 'Closer' & 'The Perfect Drug', also heavily stylised, with Closer being shot using an old film reel from the 20's to give it a more aged look. we hope that a blend of these looks and styles will create a unique video that viewers will want to watch again and again and be the figurehead of a strong media package.

We have paid close attention to the Nine Inch Nails back catalogue of music videos from the early industrial/ pop-esq sound through to the more recent- with more to come and closer analysis to come in future blog posts.

Trent Reznor launched his own remix website- where the fans (for free) could download the multi-tracks free of charge and remix the tracks as they pleased, which incured the wrath of Universal records who wanted more control of how Reznor released his music. All remixes on the site are avalible to download free of charge and Reznor also used it as a platfrom to release some previously unheard tracks or tracks that had only ever been avalible in more obscure ways.[Draft]

Sunday, 30 October 2011

We decided to go for Ben's track as myself and Kyle both liked the concept of his pitch, though i cant say i'm the biggest fan of 9 inch nails but I decided to work on this track because I liked the idea for the video, and thats what this coursework is about. Creating a good music video.

Sunday, 16 October 2011

Nine Inch Nails 'formed' in 1988 in Cleveland, Ohio whilst Trent Reznor was working as a cleaner at Right Track Studio, Trent recorded his first demo's in the studio after hours- playing most of the instruments himself he made a demo set later known as 'Purest Feeling', heavily influenced by industrial artist 'Skinny Puppy', later released as a bootleg in 1994 by Hawk Records. Their live shows have ranged from the violent and muddy to hi-tech light shows as time has gone on leading to much more advanced sounds- as close to studio as possible; Trent Reznor writes all music but often hires a band when it comes to the recording and live shows (wouldn't make a very good one man live show...)Reznor however has moved onto other things- his new project with his wife; How to Destroy Angels and scoring several films- having previously been involved with David Lynch film Lost Highway and Natural born Killers directed by Oliver Stone.

His more recent forays have been with long time collaborator Atticus Ross to create the score for Social Network by David Fincher- (who also directed the video for 'Only') and more recently Renzor and Ross have been working on the score to The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo also by Fincher. Reznor and Ross also won an Oscar for their work on Social Network last year- and Reznor has been working on a HBO adaptation of his dystopian Year Zero with the writer from Fight Club being roped in to help based on Reznors 2008 album and ARG (alternate Reality Game) used to help market the album.

In 1988 Reznor was working as a cleaner at Right Track Studios when he created his first ever demos later known as 'Purest Feeling' a very early version of Pretty Hate Machine- the first big release by Nine Inch Nails spawning singles like 'Head Like a Hole', 'Sin' and 'Down in It'- this wave of more mainstream industrial, combined with the very pop feel to some of the songs proved a success, one which launched Nine Inch Nails into the early 90's. This lead to an intense touring period, this and creative issues between Reznor and TVT records led to a huge delay until Reznor released...

Broken, which was much heavier than their previous work, in 1992, following Reznors absence over the arguments with the record company. Which led to this statement by Reznor to be put in the sleeve of each vinyl record.

Broken was secretly recorded from march to august 1992 in a variety of locationswithout the permission of
the record label
to ensure it could fester without Divine intervention
now They just leave me alone and let me do what I want

"Broken was a hard recording to make
Broken is an ugly record made during an ugly time in my life
Broken marks phase three of nine inch nails: the becoming
I am starting to realize what this is all about
and I don't like it

Flood starting out producing but I ended up
I'm not sure why

maybe I am what everbody seems to think I am

nine inch nails is still not a real band with real people playing real instruments
there will be no touring for Broken

I am starting work on my new full-length recording - The Downward Spiral - which I
hope will be finished the beginning of 1993

These new- darker tracks gave way to something much darker- the Broken film- which to this day has still never officially been released due to the extreme and graphic content of the video which depicts a slow and ritualistic killing filmed on a very low-res camera- leading some to believe that it was infact a real killing...seriously.

And as Reznor said the next release was The Downward Spiral- the big 'hit' for Nine Inch Nails with the song 'Closer' combined with a controversial video by Mark Romanek made it gold dust.

A concept album about the general destruction and fall of one man led to some seriously overwrought tracks filled with noise and screams. The 90's proved to be the biggest decade for Nine Inch Nails who at that point seemed to be going from strength to strength- a new sound with each new album as it appeared at that point.

(turn your speakers up)

Cue a five year gap in which Reznors problems became news and he all but vanished from

the musical scene until 1999 with The Fragilewhich cut opinion in two- some seeing it as overwrought and far too depressing and others seeing it as a work of art spread over two discs of goodness.

Although defiantly more depressing than the prior album The Fragile did contain some single material such as 'We're in this together now' and the censored 'Starsuckers'

Cue another vanishing act from Reznor- who goes into rehab for alcohol addiction and 6 years go by until the release of 'With Teeth' a much more mainstream album- filled with catchy songs with plenty to make them far more catchy then the Fragile with more hooks to boot but it seemed almost that Nine Inch Nails had lost its bite or to others had adapted to a more modern audience.It generally divided fans.

Year Zero appeared 18 months later- a slick concept album on what Reznor perceived to be flaws on the american society. He said that the album was 'for a movie that never existed' This, however, is on the way, with Reznor producing a show for HBO with a hopeful air date of late 2012.To compliment this Reznor created a vast online viral marketing scheme. Focusing on the proposed end of the world with a totalitarian US government in control- and various drugs used to control the masses with daily terrorist attacks taking place in protest- something not too far detached from today- releasing websites and codes for fans to trawl through. Here is one example:

http://anotherversionofthetruth.com/

However Reznor took issue with the record companies pricing of it and prompted fans to 'steal it' leading to another huge fallout between Reznor and Universal Records. Signaling his departure to the foundation of 'Null Corperation' through which Reznor published Ghosts I-IV and the Slip for free for charge and launched the NiN remix site (more on this in future blog posts)

Following this seperation he begin to work on film soundtracks with Atticus Ross- on Social Network by David Fincher and the upcoming Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Thus concludes 20+ years of Nine Inch Nails history with Reznors promise that there's more to come...

Sunday, 2 October 2011

So here's a fairly old song- but I'll get straight to the main 'issue' here this remix is the shortest 'good' version of the song I could find and even this it pushes 5 mins so it's looking highly unlikely.However Ministry did remake the sound at 4:30mins- but it has a much heavier theme to it and IF I did a video on the song it'd rely heavily upon the lighter theme of the earlier versions.

So what is the idea then? Well it involves getting seriously weirdly dressed up, it'd be a play upon the way/ current trend, wherein recent artists have taking to dressing in totally 'absurd' ways (Lady Gaga?) so this song would be kinda a new take on that- with some serious dressing up going on and some plays on stereo-types to help get it into a much more modern audience group (15-24).

It'd feature some fairly strong use of lip syncing with maybe some small narrative of someone who dresses up weirdly to fit with some weird trends in or rather to stand out from everyone else..either way I think that it'd be a very catchy video to do so why not?